The Connacht GAA Sustainable Energy Community has been awarded with the prize for Inspirational Sustainable Energy Community at the 2023 Sustainable Energy Authority Ireland Energy Awards.
Founded in 2019 within the Connacht GAA Centre of Excellence in Bekan, the Connacht GAA SEC set out with a mission to understand and optimize energy use.
In the beginning, the plan was to focus on comprehending utility bills and educating staff on daily energy efficiency practices.
Since then, the community has formulated an ambitious 10 year Energy Master Plan for the Centre.
As the SEAI Awards celebrated its 20th year, there were 114 applicants to this year’s competition, with 40 finalists.
Collectively, they reduced energy consumption by 16%, saving €50 million in energy spends.
The renewable energy produced by the 2023 entrants is equivalent to powering over 400,000 per year.
Ahascaragh Distillers Ltd was also a winner on the night in the Innovative Deployment of Renewable Energy category.
The University of Galway won the prize for Energy in Business.
The other winners are:
Lawler Sustainability (Research and Innovation)
Lidl (Large Business)
Ballykilcavan Brewing Company (Small and Medium Business)
Inland Fisheries Ireland (Leadership in public sector decarbonisation and energy efficiency)
University of Galway (Energy in Buildings)
Bus Éireann (Transport)
SSE Airtricity Energy Services/Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council (Residential Energy Upgrades)
Symphony Energy (Sustainability via Digital Technologies in Construction and Buildings)
